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The fleecing of Silicon Valley with Pet Rent

Silicon Valley housing prices are pretty high and the rents are as well. This is just the supply-demand situation in this really cool area and I can accept that. 🙂 But there is an evil that lives deep in the heart of the Silicon Valley apartment landscape: Pet rent.

Of course pet deposits are standard in most places and they make sense. A cat can do all manner of things to carpets and floors and I am content to put down a deposit. But at least 1/2 of the big property management companies want pet rent ($25-$50 per pet). What is next? Baby rent, spouse rent, plant rent?

My wife and I are looking at apartments right now and the first thing we ask of a building manager is whether they charge pet rent. If they do I explain that we will not pay pet rent and we leave. I hope there are other people out there that do the same and perhaps eventually the practice will fade away.

Our current place does not charge pet rent so I know it is not impossible to find sanity if you look hard enough.

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3 comments on “The fleecing of Silicon Valley with Pet Rent”

Not only do I pay pet rent, but after I moved in they told us not to walk the dog on the grounds ( I paid a 500 deposit and 50 per month). Also, now they just tried to call me and return the last three months of pet rent (leff me a message and told me that I had overpaid on the rent, to deduct it from next month’s rent). I called them and told them it was pet rent, their response was “what kind of dog do you have?” Don’t know what is going on here…

“Baby rent, spouse rent…?” I totally agree. I live by myself in a two bedroom apartment. I’m pretty sure that if I got married, and my wife moved in, my rent wouldn’t change. And if we then had a baby or two, my rent wouldn’t change.
Additional people cause as much wear and tear as pets. I think it is purely a justification to nickle and dime renters out of more money.